libCEC 1.3 released

09Dec11

Now supporting Receivers!

Well, it’s been a month since 1.2 was released, and in that time our lead developer Lars has been hard at work with libCEC 1.3. We’ve now added full support for LG’s Simplink, as well as adding or extending support for Philips, Yamaha, and Onkyo products.

As has been promised, libCEC 1.3 now supports all the major aspects of your home theater system with the addition of A/V receiver volume and mute controls. For those keeping track, XBMC can now control your TV and your Receiver’s audio. Your TV can now control XBMC. For the final step in the circle, in the upcoming libCEC 1.4, your Receiver will be able to control the audio of XBMC.

In order to use these new controls in XBMC, you will need to use a patched version of the media center software. The most recent OpenELEC nightlies starting in about two days will work. For Windows users, please use:

While it didn’t quite make this version, a great deal of additional work has been put into supporting Ubuntu Hardy, which will be of great benefit to Apple TV 1 users. Expect sometime next week for 1.3.1 to drop. At that time, the USB CEC Adapter should work with the ATV1, though, as usual with the ATV1, some tinkering will likely be required. When 1.3.1 ships, we’ll update on the process to enable everything.

Beyond XBMC, libCEC 1.3 marks the introduction of a C++ CLR Wrapper, which will allow the USB CEC Adapter to speak with a variety of programs written in .NET, including Windows Media Center and MediaPortal. With luck, you can expect to hear more news along these lines at some point in the future.

In addition to these major feature additions, a long list of fixes and other changes have been incorporated into libCEC 1.3. To see the list in its entirety, feel free to check out: